Dear Quentin, I have a moral dilemma that I hope you can help me with. A contractor was recommended to me by a dear friend. He built a set of bookshelves for her living room, and she said he was very professional, didn’t leave an ounce of dust behind, and did a very thorough job.
On my friend’s recommendation, I called him for a quote for several projects at my house. I wanted to install a wooden interior door where there is now just a doorframe, build some bookshelves and put up a curtain rail over my apartment door. The new interior door was my No. 1 priority. He quoted me $5,500 for the bookshelves, $2,000 for the door (at least that’s what I heard him say) and $1,200 for the curtain rail and a blind that would also act as a noise reducer. It was early in the morning, and it all sounded like a lot of money. He picked up his phone a …